Lincoln Brigade veterans recall Spanish Civil War

Oakland Tribune ^ | 3/1/04

[Valin]

Ranks of those who volunteered to fight Franco are thinning

OAKLAND -- Some of the few remaining veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, who volunteered in 1937 to fight in the Spanish Civil War, gathered Sunday to listen to music and remember fellow veterans.
Each year at their annual West Coast reunion, the ranks of the brigade thin. This year 12 veterans took the stage, some with the help of walkers and canes, to take a bow in front of 450 supporters in the Calvin Simmons Theater.
According to Linda Lusting, who helped organize the event, nationwide between 75 and 100 brigade veterans still are living.

The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 when Gen. Francisco Franco sought to overthrow, with the help of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, the democratically elected government of Spain. Ultimately, Franco was successful but not without vigorous resistance from the brigade and other anti-fascist fighters, who fought the takeover with substandard weapons and no aid from the U.S. government.

While the veterans might move a little slower then they did 67 years ago when they took up arms against Franco, their fighting spirit is still evident.
"My heart is still in the same place, and I'd do it all over again," said brigade veteran Ben Lane, 88.

In all 2,800 Americans volunteered to fight in Spain. They came from all but two states and included seamen, students, miners, lumberjacks, teachers and artists. They fought alongside 35,000 other anti-fascists who came from 52 countries. During the 22 months the brigade fought in Spain, nearly 750 American volunteers were killed.
Brigade veterans, some of whom were members of the Young Communist League, were thought of as communists and in a foreshadowing of McCarthyism that would grip Washington in the 1950s, many brigade veterans were harassed by the FBI after returning from the war.
"Well the truth is that only some of us were communists but most of us were activists to one degree or another," said El Cerrito resident Milt Wolff, 88. "It was the heart of The Depression, and we questioned how so many people could be allowed to live in such terrible poverty. For that the propaganda was that we were tools of Moscow and it wasn't true."

San Francisco plans to erect a monument in the brigade's honor sometime in the next year.
There are dozens of monuments honoring the brigade all over Europe.
"Once McCarthyism was repudiated, the harassment of the ALB was drastically reduced," said Peter Carrol, the chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade archives. "They are receiving the attention they deserve."

During the reunion, three performers read from war letters written by brigade fighters while black and white wartime photographs were projected onto a large screen. In addition a six-member band, accompanied by folk singer Barbara Dane, revived for the veterans some of the Depression-era songs that served as a call to arms for the young men who joined the brigade.

In the past, the annual anniversary has been hosted by actors Ed Asner and Martin Sheen. This year the event was hosted by MoveOn.org and Global Exchange. Media Benjamin, founder of Global Exchange, sang the praises of the veterans and hoped their political conviction and special brand of activism will exist in future generations.
"To recognize what they put on the line for justice is amazing," she said. "We need more of that kind of commitment today."

[Valin]

Isn't that soooo special.

[dfwgator]

Will we see such puff pieces on former members of the "German-American Bund?"

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Media Benjamin, founder of Global Exchange

Akkkkkk! I'm so tired of this woman popping up everywhere!

[niteowl77]

a six-member band, accompanied by folk singer Barbara Dane, revived for the veterans some of the Depression-era songs

Abuse of elderly leftists alert.

[2banana]

"My heart is still in the same place, and I'd do it all over again," said brigade veteran Ben Lane, 88.

Once a commie, always a commie...

[Cicero]

I'm SO PROUD to have gone to Spain to help the Communists murder priests and nuns in the name of freedom!

Just think. If Franco had been allowed to come to power, he would have immediately handed Spain over to Hitler.

Just as we tried to hand Spain to Stalin.

[stainlessbanner]

Interesting name: ALB

[Mike Darancette]

A celebration of Stalinist Stooges.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Did they sing the "International" ?

[cynicom]

Their Moscow masters put the screws to these "anti fascists" (communists) when they signed a love agreement with Adolph and then invaded Poland.

Dragging McCarthy in after the fact is a smokescreen.

[Valin]

It's always seemed to me that of that whole group of fascist leaders Franco was far and away the smartest. He got what he wanted (Spain) then told Hitler thanks but no thanks I'll just sit your war out.


As I recall the NKVD spent more time killing leftests than they did killing fascist.

[billbears]

Well at least they wouldn't be far from his own beliefs.

[CatoRenasci]

From Tom Lehrer's Folk Song Army:

...Remember the war against Franco
that's the kind where each of us belongs;
'though he may have won all the battles,
we had all the good songs!.....

[eddiespaghetti]

of that whole group of fascist leaders Franco was far and away the smartest. He got what he wanted (Spain) then told Hitler thanks but no thanks I'll just sit your war out.

YOU ARE RIGHT. (IT'S HERESY IN MY FAMILY TO SAY THIS, BUT) THE ALLIES LUCKED OUT WHEN FRANCO WON. HAD THE "REPUBLICANS" IN SPAIN (A MISNOMER IF EVER THERE WAS ONE)HAD RETAINED POWER, SPAIN WOULD HAVE BEEN 100% UNDER STALIN'S THUMB. IN 1940, WHEN FRANCE WAS DEFEATED AND STALIN AND HITLER WERE BUDDIES UNDER THEIR 1939 PACT, HITLER WOULD HAVE DEMANDED (AND STALIN WOULD HAVE ACCEDED) THAT GERMANY HAVE PASSAGE THROUGH SPAIN IN ORDER TO TAKE GIBRALTAR (AND FROM THERE MARCH TO SUEZ, IF THEY WANTED). FRANCO KEPT STALLING THE GERMANS.

[MadJack]

Apparently not many members of the Oakland audience have bothered to read Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia."

[FlatLandBeer]

Commies

[BlueLancer]

Franco bump ....

[Valin]

That says so much about the left.

I'll give them the songs if I can win the battles.

[17th Miss Regt]

Ultimately, Franco was successful but not without vigorous resistance from the brigade and other anti-fascist fighters, who fought the takeover with substandard weapons and no aid from the U.S. government.

But with plenty of aid from the Soviet government, including tanks and aircraft. Also a little help from the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. Murderous communists!

[Cicero]

Oh, yes. Stalin's agents were mainly after deviant leftists. But I know some Spaniards of that generation. They lost family members, clergy, and nuns to Spanish "Republicans." And the naive members of the Lincoln Brigade were there helping them in their fight against Christianity.

I say naive, but if they STILL don't understand what crimes they committed in Spain, then they must be very naive indeed.

Franco held Spain out of the war and kept Hitler at arm's length. He protected the Jews, Gypsies, and others who fled to Spain, while France was eagerly handing them over to be killed. In the end, he was among the few people involved in that civil war who behaved honorably.